General News

By the Numbers: Aug. 24

Jay and Silent Bob look set to make some noise, noise, noise this weekend.

With more than a little help from their Tinseltown buddies, the less-than-dynamic duo will likely chew up, spit out and stomp all over that second serving of American Pie.

The competition is stiff--five new films open in wide release Friday--but the aggressively juvenile Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back should guarantee director Kevin Smith a smash ending to his View Askewniverse chronicles.

Smith's last film, 1999's controversial religious treatise Dogma, opened with $8.7 million on its way to a heavenly $30 million gross. That's more than Smith's previous low-budget comedies Clerks, Mallrats and Chasing Amy combined.

Smith's fifth film falls somewhere between the comically gritty realism of Clerks and the aggressively juvenile antics of Mallrats.
Jay and Silent Bob cross paths with almost all of young Hollywood--plus such veterans as George Carlin and Mark Hamill--in their crusade to thwart a Miramax production based on their comic-book alter egos, Bluntman and Chronic. That should attract those unfamiliar with Smith's world of convenience-store clerks, comic-book artists and loser stoners. Conversely, unfamiliar audiences also may end up confused as to why Ben Affleck plays two characters, including himself. This might prove problematic for Jay and Silent Bob's long-term prospects to entice the uninitiated to join them on their whacked-out journey to Hollywood.

Also, Smith recently fought off criticism by GLAAD that he imbued his road trip with a nasty homophobic streak. Having said that, the anti-Catholic accusations Smith faced with Dogma surely helped the otherwise difficult-to-market satire to score at the box office.

Allen's recent period pieces-humorous or otherwise, with or without him in the lead role-usually leave audiences cold. Also, Allen's last August release, Manhattan Murder Mystery, stalled at $11.2 million in 1993. Therefore, even with DreamWorks once again serving as Allen's benefactor, Jade Scorpion is unlikely to surpass Small Time Crooks' $17 million gross.

Since audiences can choose between Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and Rat Race should they want to see a road movie, Bubble Boy will surely burst upon impact. Jake Gyllenhall stars a young boy suffering from primary immune deficiencies--hence his travel bubble--who takes to the road to seek out true love.

The days of $40 million-openings are over, at least for now. This could be the first weekend since Swordfish opened June 8 with $18.1 million that the No. 1 film has made less than $20 million.

Reigning champ American Pie 2 should lose its crusty crown this weekend, but it looks set to become the 12th film this year to make more than $100 million. The sequel stood at $96.8 million as of Thursday, and will likely exceed its predecessor's $101.8 million gross within days.

The World War II drama opened with a fair but unpromising $7.2 million, failing miserably to capitalize on the very public unveiling of Cruz and her new beau, Kidman's ex-husband, Tom Cruise. Its total as of Thursday: a very disappointing $10 million.

The female-driven comedies are displaying the longevity that the likes of Jurassic Park III and Planet of the Apes simply lack. As of Thursday, the former has taken $170.2 million while the latter has scrapped up $164.2 million. Neither will cross the $200 million mark, a disappointment considering that these very expensive blockbusters opened so dynamically.

If there is a lesson to be learned, it's that aspiring princess and lawyers have longer legs than cloned dinosaurs and evolutionarily superior simians.